The present invention generally relates to a conveyor system and more particularly, to a conveying apparatus for conveying corrugated cardboard boxes, pulverized materials or the like.
In a conventional conveying apparatus, there are provided endless chains each of which is passed around a pair of sprockets arranged at the front and rear ends on opposite sides of the conveying apparatus, a plurality of support members each having a rectangular cross section and fitted between the parallel chains on each side of the conveying apparatus, and a plurality of gaps each defined between adjacent support members for permitting smooth movement of the support members in a circular path at the front and rear ends of the conveying apparatus.
Although the above known construction is capable of conveying corrugated cardboard boxes, sacks, bags etc., when pulverized materials or the like are transported, a different type of conveying apparatus has been required which avoids spilling of the pulverized materials through the gaps between adjacent support members and consequently, there has been a drawback in that work efficiency is extremely low.
There is shown in FIG. 1 a portion of another conventional conveying apparatus wherein each support member 41 having a box-like cross section is connected to a chain 45 in a manner that the support member 41 is connectively screwed down in an L-shaped fastening member 46 extending downwardly from the chain 45 by means of a connecting member 44 through an upper side opening 42 having a large diameter and a lower side opening 43 having a small diameter, each of which is defined in the support member 41. Upon connection of the support member 41 with the L-shaped fastening member 46, the upper side opening 42 of the support member 41 is covered with a rubber cap 47 so as to prevent a portion of each object to be carried from being caught in the opening 42 or the pulverized materials from entering thereinto.
In the construction as described above, however, an extremely troublesome operation has been required for connecting the support member 41 with the chain 45, since it is necessary to fix two types of different members such as the connecting member 44 and the rubber cap 47 to the support member 41 to accomplish the above described operation.